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The
Mt. Ararat Attempted Rescue

South
Side of Ararat; The Expedition will go to the
North Side.

On
Friday, (yes Friday the 13th) at 10:57pm we received
an e-mail from Nasuh Mahruki,
the expedition leader of the 2001 Ararat Peace climb.
He said, "There is an accident on Mount Ararat on the
north side route. I am going there with a team of 8
rescue climbers. Somebody is lost and probably in deep
trouble, if still alive. Anyway, when I am away,
please...." Cheers, Nasuh

With
the Expedition starting in a few days and all the last
minute details an expedition has, we were a little concerned.
But Nasuh's staff and friends did a great job
of getting information out to those who needed it and answering all
questions.

So
Nasuh is heading for the mountain ! You see, this is what
the AKUT climbers do. When people are in trouble they
go out to help. So off Nasuh went to the mountain a
few days before the expedition was to begin...

On
Tuesday, we received this e-mail from Nasuh: "I
just got back home, we recovered the body of a solo
climber from the summit. I climbed Ararat in 32.5
hours Istanbul to Summit without
acclimatization..." Nasuh

We
of course asked for details and if he got any pictures
on the North side, where the climbers will attempt to
climb without knowing "any
route to the Summit":
"He [the person who died] was on the west side,
from Lake Kup side. We will probably go from Ahora
side. I couldn't get any picture of our route. Ricardo
is already here, David is
coming today and Swee is coming
tomorrow...." [That is a quick update for you.]

"The
climber wanted a solo ascent of the mountain. However
he did not have enough experience. In real bad weather
conditions he pushed himself so much and was totally
exhausted. He reached the summit but on his way back
just a few meters from the summit, his crampon got
caught and he fell. He hit his face on the rocks and
tumbled a few meters and stopped on some snow pile and
died there. (Thursday)

He
had tried the mountain in May as well, however he had
an accident and frostbite and was rescued by the
jendarmarie. This time he did not get the official
permit and did not tell anyone that he is going solo
to the mountain.

When
we heard that he was lost (Friday), we send our Ankara
team who were there on the Dogubayazit side by chance
(Friday). They started the search operation the next
day after he was lost (Saturday). Myself and three
climbers from our Antalya team arrived there next
morning (Saturday). I left Istanbul on a 6 am plane.
That day we camped at 3750 meters. The Ankara team did
their search on some high parts of the mountain. The next
morning (Sunday) we started for his route and at 14:30
I was on the summit with an Ankara team member. We
found him lying there. In a very strong electrical
storm, my worst ever, we put him in the plastic bag
and tied him very well and started lowering him. After
100-120 meters we met the two other AKUT climbers
and lowered the body together till 4650 meters. We
left the body there and got back to camp. We asked for
help from other climbers, as it was such a
difficult task for 4 climbers. The next morning
(Monday) we climbed up to 4650 meters again. This time
with 11
climbers, we lowered the body until 4050 meters. That
day we gave the body to a military helicopter. It was
a difficult operation and then all of us went back
home.

So
this is the basic story. Cheers, Nasuh

The
non-profit
organization AKUT can use your help ! You can make a credit
card donation by
clicking HERE.Part
of the donations also go to the non-profit group TEGEV
(an education programme in Turkey), and the Babu Chiri
School Fund.

So
things are settling back down, we think. We hear today
that a U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in the area of
eastern Turkey. The first US airplane to have
went down in 10 years of patrols over the no-fly
zones! (Turkey borders Iraq). The pilot is
fine...